For those who don’t know, El Rehla public camp is a 4 days camp on a beach, for business enthusiasts, willing to explore their field, other fields, connect with a pool of successful people in their genre, exchange knowledge, tell their stories and pitch their ideas to bright minds in the startup ecosystem.

El Rehla is much more than the literal definition of its name; capturing the essence of this journey requires not only reading this but actually indulging in the experience yourself.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, part of the corporate world, someone who doesn’t know yet what path you want to take, career shifting, or you’re retired, surprisingly this place is for you all!

But if you thought of this solely as a business camp, a place to network, meet with investors, mentors, connect with people with similar and different backgrounds, well it’s not just that, there is much more.

The lineup of speakers guarantees you’ll have hands-on insights on as diverse topics as their speakers. ( examples to be added)

There’re also exploring talents, having fun, playing games..There are treats for everyone’s taste buds.

The diversity of age groups attending this camp was impactful, the harmony was uncanny, we all communicated on the professional and personal levels like we’ve known each other for a long time and not just 4 days.

Impeccable planning

The organizers of El Rehla really went out on a limb to get this camp perfectly, from the choice of venue, a heavenly spot at Marsa Alam’s beach, time discipline, choice of facilitators and activities. Everything was well thought out.

The spirit of the camp is a reflection of its organizers and company culture. 

The networking activities, their themes and how they ran smoothly made everyone acquainted with the rest of their fellow attendees and broke the ice, the choice of topics were relatable and eye-opening.

Attending great events with a lineup of speakers and hundreds to thousands of attendees has both its perks and drawbacks, catching your target speaker alone for a 5 minutes talk is not something easy to get.

ElRehla made this equation happen, the time, space and number of people, allowing every attendee to get a share of the speakers time, and of the attendees’ time.

And not under the regular circumstances!

Catching one of the mentors or investors in their swimming suit or diving kit, discussing how beautiful the weather is, and how you can monetize your business, something you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

The set atmosphere makes everyone laid back, genuine and humble, we come in strangers, we develop a bond beyond knowledge and business and beyond a very well calculated agenda of who we wanted to meet and why.

The experience sucks you in a state of euphoria and emotional depth.

A Journey of Self-revelation

You come here with a goal to know more people, more info about certain topics, harness the knowledge from the experienced 

You come out knowing all you came for, but better yet you come out knowing and understanding yourself better, you’re more connected to yourself, mind, body and soul.

When they said the program will work on your “ mind, body, and soul “ I didn’t have that much of high hopes, in the end, I was there for a goal.

But the variety of activities engaging your whole being did achieve that equation. From yoga on the beach to fitness classes, diving and swimming, emotional activities, exploring talents, having fun, playing games… collectively it teaches you that balance between your mind, body and soul is key to being at peace, highly functioning and feeling whole.

”It was better than I have ever expected. I wished I had more time to attend the simultaneous technical workshop. I made new friends as well through the reflections’ activities. And I came up with an action plan for the coming steps in my career. I understand that this is the product of so many years of trial and error, but the fruit of these years is that this is the most effective retreat/ camp that I have ever attended. Thank you for organizing this so well.’‘ – khadiga Embaby.

”Valuable experience which has a very vital role in flourishing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt.” – Abdelrahman Fahmy.

Safe Space

No spoilers, you have to try it yourself to delve deep into these emotions

But the activities did deliver, and one thing was not expected at all and most of the participants were surprised of, we connected on an emotional level, we opened up to complete strangers, we said things that most of us haven’t told to close people, we listened, we didn’t judge, we related to each others’ stories, pains and struggles, we were just humans at that moment, we put aside anything that made us” branded” and spilled our insides. 

Everyone has their unique story, everyone is completely different but yet we came to realize we are all so similar.

The best feeling one can have is being truly themselves, El Rehla was a safe space, everyone is accepting with no judgments, every part of the experience allowed us to be one’s self, no fear, no masks, just us, comfortably and contently honest.

Things that changed

This camp turned my night owl self into an early riser, willingly setting the alarm and never did I hit snooze the whole span of it.

The experience has the power to bring the extrovert out of your introvert, you can’t help but join the conversations, join the activities, the games, get to know as many of the amazing humans around you.

You’ll realize you’ve put down your phone most of the time, didn’t take as many pictures as you’d usually take on any trip because you’d rather live in the moment, capture it with your mind and soul.

The taste of the experience lingers, and the after taste is serotonin infused with adrenaline, you go home with a much clearer vision of who you are, who you want to be, the next steps you need to take, and the energy to do more on whatever you set your mind to.